Ukraine’s parliament approves sanctions against Russia ally Iran

The Ukrainian parliament has approved a sanctions package against Iran, a Russian ally it accuses of sending weapons to Moscow during its more than year-long invasion of Ukraine.

The measures were approved on Monday, a day after Ukraine said Russia used Iranian-made Shahed drones in the largest such attack on the capital, Kyiv, since the beginning of the invasion.

“The resolution synchronises Ukrainian sanctions with the actions of the entire civilised world on the path to the complete isolation of Iran,” the Ukrainian parliament said on its website.

The new regulations include a ban on exports of “military and dual-use goods” to Iran and the “suspension of economic and financial obligations in favour of residents of Iran”.

The package would also stop Iranian goods transiting through Ukraine and it planes through Ukraine’s airspace as well as imposing trade, financial and technology sanctions against Iran and its citizens.

The legislation still needs to be signed into law by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which is a formality because the Ukrainian leader submitted the bill himself.

Zelenskyy last week appealed directly to Iranians, asking: “Why do you want to be accomplices in Russian terror?”

Tehran struck back, calling Zelensky’s comments a “political show” that had no value.

“This repeat of empty claims by the Ukrainian president against the Islamic Republic of Iran means going along with the anti-Iranian media war that is done with the goal of receiving more arms and financial help from Western countries,” foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said on Saturday.

In November, the Iranian government confirmed for the first time that it had sold drones to Russia but said this was “months” before the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukraine said on Sunday that Moscow had staged the largest drone attack to date on Ukraine overnight, using 54 Iranian-made drones. It said 52 of them were shot down.